Anxiety and stress

Hi Catherine, and welcome!

Someone will be along soon to welcome you properly, and there are lots of Type 1s about who can help you with any questions better than I can - I'm Type 2.

But yes - stress does raise blood glucose levels. You need a Type 1 to give you advice on how to deal with it and them.

Saturday afternoon is sometimes not very busy on the forum - everybody off doing whatever :shock: - so have a little patience - help will come. This is a great place, lots of friendly people who know what they are talking about from personal experience :thumbup:

Viv 8)

BUMP!!!! Am bumping this post up , hopefully you will get a type1 coming along soon.
With some support and tips to help you along your way.
Anna. x

Hi Catherine

I will try to help you a bit as I am Type 1 and have also used Novomix many years ago.

Although stress can affect bg levels and make them go up, eating an incorrect amount of carbohydrate will also do the same. Has your DSN given you any guidance at all on how you adjust the amount of carbohydrate you eat at set times so that your bg levels will be ok when you test? If your bg levels are swinging from 3-13 it sounds as though you are eating too much carb at different times of the day. Are you eating 6 meals per day or just 3? The reason why I ask is that the best control with twice daily insulins usually means eating smaller amounts of carb more frequently and testing regularly to determine just how much the ‘small’ amount will actually need to be. Are you testing your bg levels 6 times a day to see how your meals with the Novomix you inject, affect your bg?

Durkc001 said:

Thank you for your help. I have not met the dietian yet and have a lot to learn about the affect of Carbs on bg levels. I was curious about eating 6 times a day. I eat 4 times - breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch and dinner. Although this is a huge change as I was previously only having dinner. No surprise I was diagnosed at bg 33. I think I can tell when I am low now but being high I do not feel any different, is that normal? Thank you for all your help, this forum is becoming a favourite. Catherine x

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Everyone is different Catherine but testing bg levels every 2-2.5hrs after you eat a meal as well as before you eat a meal is about the only way you'll be able to determine the effect carbohydrate has on your bg. As you are using a mixed insulin, the only way you can stabilise your bg will be by altering the amounts of carb that you eat. You should be guided by striving for a bg level of about 5.5mmol before you eat a main meal, then going no higher than 9mmol 2.5hrs later. It can be done by altering the amount of carb. If your bg level is below 8mmol 2.5hrs after you eat, then you should eat a snack but if it's a lot higher then you can leave the snack off and wait another 2hrs to see what your bg is. If you've found that your bg is high before you eat your evening meal, then it's a sign that you've either eaten too much carb at lunch and the insulin has struggled a bit to lower you as it releases its action a bit slower than the other regime called MDI (basal/bolus).

Regarding being hyper aware. You will find that you won't be aware of high bg levels until they've reached over 14mmol. Kids though tend to feel thirsty when their levels get up to 12mmol but adults don't for some unknown reason (so even more the reason for testing).

The tighter your control becomes the more easily you will feel high blood sugars.. I can typically tell if mine go above 8/9 mmol/l... conversely however hypo awareness does drop off some what.. I typically feel a hypo at around 3 to 3.5 mmol/l...

Being newly diagnosed the most important thing you can do is test... test... and test... some more... record everything!.. what you eat, activity level, general feelings, etc.... soon you will begin to see patterns in your readings.... what foods make your blood sugars spike.. how a ****** day makes them rise.. how exercise effects them etc... diabetes is an individuals condition it affects all of us differently so the best person to tell you about your diabetes is you..

I would suggest that once you have a routine going you ask your HCP about a carb counting course and a switch to basal / bolus regime as this is likely to give you some more flexibility in your life..

And remember the forum is always here for questions.. none to big or silly!